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The revolution of the ubiquitous World Wide Web has extended to customer care so much so that consumers of utilities like Gas, Water and Electric Power also seem to prefer the web to address their needs rather than personal contact or talking over the telephone.

“The growth in the number of households that say they have visited their utility’s Web site is remarkable,” said Alan Destribats, senior vice president of the energy utility practice at J.D. Power and Associates, in a report found on the CRMToday website. “The leading utilities now experience more customer contacts via their Website than by telephone.”

The research agency E Source finished its review of the utility company Web sites of North American Electric and Gas companies for this year and drew up a detailed report of the industry’s performance using benchmarking techniques .The study included 111 U.S and Canadian utility company Web sites to assess the utility industry as a whole.

The report finds that after years of getting used to using the Web for thing like e-commerce, banking, and customer support, consumers are now finding it a convenient way top do business with the utilities which serve them as well.

The utilities are benefiting from this trend because now their customers can communicate with them via Web chat and email, plus they can pay their bills and report problems online. This means lower costs for the utilities as they don’t have to employ as many agents in their contact centers or pay as much in communications costs.

However, the report finds that utility companies need to make their Web sites more customer-friendly and informative, particularly in terms of highlighting programs on energy efficiency and green power.

Utility companies nationwide have decided to meet in January to frame directives on how to make their web sites more user friendly so as the facilitate Web-self service. Companies which have been successful in their Web initiatives will share their experiences in a forum to be held at Tampa, Florida.

“Three of the top four utilities in the country will be sharing their best practices at this event along with other great innovators in the web service space,” said Raj Mrig, president EUCI, in a statement. “This forum will help utilities from across the country take their web initiatives to the next level.”

The forum is being arranged by EUCI, an organization which is involved in educating energy companies progressively.

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Shamila Janakiraman is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.